George P. Kazen Federal Building and United States Courthouse

Floor Speech

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Mr. MICHAEL F. DOYLE of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, this is the final amendment to the bill, which will not kill the bill or send it back to committee. If adopted, the bill will immediately proceed to final passage, as amended.

Mr. Speaker, I rise today in support of this motion to recommit in order to significantly improve this bill by restoring the bipartisan Buy American language that was inextricably stripped over the last 3 days.

The WIIN Act provides important funding for ports, harbors, and waterways around the country. I think infrastructure issues like this bill should be something we can all agree on. In fact, they have been historically bipartisan.

Then again, I also think that support for hardworking Americans should also be bipartisan. I was disappointed that my bipartisan amendment, offered by myself and my good friend from North Carolina, Representative Walter Jones, was rejected yesterday at the Rules Committee by a party-line vote.

Our amendment would have made the Buy American provisions for EPA's Drinking Water State Revolving Fund permanent, matching all other clean water programs and all other Federal infrastructure programs. I want to reemphasize that. Every other program, Federal infrastructure programs, clean water programs, have permanent Buy American provisions.

So the question is: Why does this bill just have a 1-year provision? If you don't think that sends a signal to China that 1 year from today they can start dumping steel over in the United States and undercutting our steel industry and our steelworkers, then you are not living on the same planet that I am.

The Senate passed their bill, including language making the Buy American requirement for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund permanent, with an overwhelming bipartisan vote, 95-3.

House Republican leadership, for some unexplained reason, replaced this bipartisan Senate language with a 1-year extension at the last minute. I don't understand why we would do this, why we would undercut the American steel industry; but I believe that their actions send a clear message to those folks in the steel mills around our country that we don't have their back.

These hardworking Americans depend on manufacturing jobs to support their families, and they have suffered because of Chinese steel dumped in our markets. U.S. steel mills have closed. American steelworkers have lost their jobs, and others have had their hours cut.

This is personal to me. My father supported our family working in a steel mill, just like his father before him. They supported their families through these tough, dangerous jobs, like millions around the country. There is dignity in that work, and we need to make sure that Congress doesn't kill that dignity, along with the kind of jobs Americans can support a family on.

U.S. tax dollars should support American manufacturers and help preserve hardworking families across this Nation. I think these workers and their families deserve more certainty and more support.
President-elect Trump said just last week: ``We have two simple rules when it comes to this massive rebuilding effort: Buy American and hire American.''

Now, the President-elect and I may be from different parties, but we certainly agree on that.
I have had Members from both sides of the aisle come up to me and say that they support our amendment, and that they would vote for it on the floor. Members on both sides of the aisle at Rules spoke in favor of this amendment.

Well, we didn't get the vote we wanted out of the Rules Committee, but, colleagues, this is our chance to send a message and tell the American workers and American manufacturers that we have got their back by passing this motion to recommit.

It just does one simple thing. It changes this 1-year provision to permanent, just like the Senate bill that got sent down here and every other infrastructure bill that we do in this country.

Colleagues, let's not send the signal to China that America is open for them to dump their steel and put our companies and our workers out of jobs. Let's tell American companies and American workers that this Congress has their back.

Vote for this motion to recommit and let's stick up for the American worker and our American manufacturers.
Mr. Speaker, I yield back the balance of my time.

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